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ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY MASTERCARD

March 18, 2016

Rory McIlroy

Orlando, Florida

Q. Rory, I saw you working very hard on the range after the round yesterday. How were you able to turn it around today?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah. I mean I needed to go and do something. Yesterday was the worse I've driven the balling in a long, long time. Just couldn't hit a fairway. Whenever you do that, especially starting off yesterday hitting those tee shots left and I haven't seen a tee shot go left like that in a long time, it was a bit of a shock to me.

I needed to try to straight things out on the range last night and was able to do that somewhat. I found a couple things. Got the TrackMan and looking at a few numbers. Yeah, I was able to hit a lot better today and it showed in the score.

Q. As good as the round was, did you feel like maybe you could have gone even lower and good prospects going into the weekend, considering?
RORY MCILROY: I felt like I left a few out there. I didn't birdie the par-5s. I birdied the first -- I birdied the 12th and didn't birdie any of the other par-5s. I dropped one coming in there. It was probably looking like it could have been a 63 or a 64 but, you know, the main objective was to be here for the weekend and try and shoot a couple of good scores over the weekend and see where that puts me.

Q. Well, done and congratulations.
RORY MCILROY: I don't think there's any exact science behind it. You're always trying to be at your best at the biggest tournaments but, at the same time, you want to play consistently well week-in, week-out.

So, you know, I think I've been able to peak at the right times in previous years and I really want to get my week to week consistency better. I feel like I've been able to do that somewhat.

My bad scores aren't really as bad as they once were and as long as you can shoot a few good ones you're always going to be okay.

Q. How much time did you spend on the range last night?
RORY MCILROY: Maybe an hour. Little bit, yeah. I got the TrackMan out and just had to look at a few numbers and see what was going on and because I really -- the shots I was hitting I hadn't seen in a long time.

I wanted to know whether it was my swing or whether it was -- what it was. Just sort of figured out that my angle was left at impact. I've been trying to move the ball up in my stance with the driver.

The face was closing a little bit and even if you're swinging it well, if the face is closed you're hitting it at that speed, there's no way it's going to come back. That's where the lefts were coming from. Trying to straighten it out a little bit. Seemed to work pretty well today.

Q. Must feel good to get it right back.
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, because it wasn't -- I mean you should have seen the practice sessions I had at Palm Beach last week. I was coming here full of confidence and really, really hitting it well.

Your first tee shot of the tournament you hit like that, it's a bit of a shock and then to follow it up with a few others. I needed to work on it but thankfully I was able to figure it out and hit the ball much better today.

Q. Do you set little mini goals on a day like this?
RORY MCILROY: I was looking at Jason in front of me and I was thinking if I could maybe get to 6 going into the weekend.

Q. What about today's round? You got yourself kind of back into the mix making the cut. You played well. Obviously you played along with Jason Day.
You guys both played well.

RORY MCILROY: Yeah. I was watching Jason sort of hole a lot of putts right there and hit a lot of good shots. My main objective today was to be here for the weekend. Thankfully I was able to do that.

Hit the ball much better today. I had to go work on my swing quite a lot last night especially with the driver and straightened that out somewhat. Today was a lot better.

Q. I saw you on the range working out after your round yesterday and going into the weekend, get more reps and playing in a Saturday, Sunday type of tournament, isn't it?
Going into a Masters in the next few weeks.

RORY MCILROY: I missed the cut at Honda. You don't want to miss the cut here. The main objective, I have to get two more rounds in and hopefully I can play well over the weekend.

Even playing well I'm not sure that's quite going to be enough that far behind Jason. At the same time I can get confidence from that and bring it on to the next week and ultimately into the Masters.

Q. You've been in zones yourself in your career. Watching Jason play today and yesterday, what kind of zone is he in?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah. He's played very, very well. I thought the total that he's on now, 13-under, I thought that was going to have a great chance at the end of the week. I thought something around 12-under was going to be right there. For him to do that after two days, is pretty spectacular. I think everyone has got their work cut out to try and catch him.

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